Love In The Present Day.
Ordinary people have been taking to the streets to protest like the 'Glory' of Selma and becoming heroes like George Floyd's daughter Gianna in the process. In a tragic new year and decade of 2020 that began with the heartbreaking loss of Kobe, GiGi, the Altobelli and Chester family members, Christina Mauser and Ara Zobayan and has been marked and marred by the planets pandemic of COVID-19 that has cruelly taken so many lives and divided us like the U.S. with police brutality leading many protestor to take to the streets in a unison and understanding like peace and love that all Black Lives Matter. John was singing about this and making a moving music video that really hit home in March...of last year (like the perception is everything of Maxwell's 'The Glass House (We Never Saw It Coming)' video this problem has been systematic and within us for generations...let alone years). Just mere months in the New Year after just when you thought he was settling into the family life by the fire (and so he should have every right to) and turning into the new Michael Buble of Sinatra singing Christmas classics like Nat King Cole as the chestnuts roast with his home for the holidays 'A Legendary Christmas' that really was a cracker. But remember this is the same man that told us to 'Wake Up' with a protest album of old soul covers with hallmark hip-hop band The Roots. And you know Questlove and them are more than just Jimmy Fallon's Late Night house backing. With 'Preach' and the hash-tag campaign #CantJustPreach, Legend continued his closest thing to Sam Cooke one by demanding a change should have come by now. John waking up from his bed with Chrissy Teigen walked into a Basketball gym and took on everything from school shootings to border detained discrimination. And of course police brutality as being stalked by sirens he took to the streets in priest robes with all the "ordinary" everyday people like Arrested Development that have a name and deserve to be more than another number, whether that be on a jumpsuit or just another sobering statistic. "I can't sit and hope/I Can't just sit and pray, that/I can find a love, when/All I see is pain/Falling to my knees/And though I do believe/I can't just preach, baby, preach/Whoa, oh/I can't just preach, baby, preach," John Stephens sang on arguably his most personal and powerful track yet outside the Oscar 'Glory' he won with best conscious rapper alive Common from the movie 'Selma' as they performed at the Academy Awards and left not a dry eye in the auditorium from Captain Kirk, Chris Pine to 'Selma's' Martin Luther King Jr. himself David Oyelowo. But now when we thought like Obama that we had brought change and hope to the world then, John is back in 2020 and Trump's America with a new album in 'Electric Circus' colours like Sia or a Jenny Lewis 'Voyager' that is searching for a 'Bigger Love'.
What the world needs now...is exactly that. 'Bigger Love'. 'Get Lifted' again. Because the man whose been as legendary as his name since the first time we heard it like John Stephens' iconic piano on Fugee Lauryn Hill's 'Everything Is Everything' is back. Taking you 'Higher' like Khaled as the Grammy winner is back 'Once Again' with another one. Following the 'Green Light' of his piano lid ("time to go"-Andre 3000) key change, 'Evolver' evolving and 'Love In The Future' like Hendrix sound for the roses. Before the 'Darkness and Light' of four years ago revealed his biggest song and every weddings first dance to date in 'All Of Me'. Even bigger than, "girl I'm in love with you". Now this ordinary person like a Beatles 'Revolver' isn't bigger than Jesus, he's playing 'Jesus Christ Superstar' himself. Praise the Lord and all that is holy and legendary. He has truly risen. In God's name. Jesus is king and still walks with him like Kanye. "You know I'm romantic/I'll cross the Atlantic", this Legend says for that 'Ooh Laa' on the second and minute he's home on the epic opener that samples a classic standard with a modern twist like real R&B. Which is kind of how this album means to go on as it starts with the mural like artwork of a dear John whose name is Legend, but is becoming a soul God. The same goes for the 'Actions' of a David McCallum 'Edge' which will make you never forget about Dre. Still this isn't the 'Chronic' of the good Dr., but 'The Next Episode' of what at two tracks in already sounds like Legend's best and latest greatest for his legacy as he sings, "actions speak louder than love songs/I've been doing it all wrong." But more than a man that can admit his wrong (and actually do something about it in turn), you're going to want to marry the funky bass on 'I Do'. Forever in matrimony.
"We're in motion, I'm emotional and I'm all over you", John songs wanting to not waste this 'One Life' as he "wants to taste the joy in every minute" even if he "forgets where he's going, but knows who he's going with," such is real love and life. Legend hasn't sounded this loving and carefree since he got lifted and 'She (Didn't) Have To Know'. Then things get 'Wild' on the album standout with Gary Clark Jr.'s full grown guitar, soaring as the vocals of the feel-good John do like,' If You're Out There'. Hear this. From G.O.O.D. Music to old soul, evolution, Christmas standards and feel good music that feels like love, Legend's discography is becoming a definitive discovery as John is constantly writing songs and rewriting his already untarnished legacy. 'U Move, I Move' continues this dance with Jhene Akio that really breaks into something beautiful as she sings, "if you ever hurt then I'm going to bleed/but I'll pick you up and out you back on your feet/that's how this works/I put your first." Sounds like big love to me. All before he gets to his 'Favourite Place' on a sensational set of the most perfect production yet. And this is a Legend who used to get lifted by Yeezy on the boards when Mr. West just played preacher's on the videos of John's 'Used To Love You' first single smash instead of performing them every Sunday service. But to be Frank (he can still be John) it's the weekend and come Saturday night if you want to make love-especially in lockdown-take the pressure off along with you know what and play the slow burning 'Slow Cooker'. "Let it breathe" says the man setting the mood like he has the last two Christmases. "Ain't nothing like a simmer", now stir. "Forming gold can take a billion years" he tongue in cheek (and probably some other places) says, but Legend needn't worry. This one sounds like platinum to me. But "there's a lot more food on his plate" on the next track, but don't worry John's 'Focused', even if "some days work feels like chains." It's the kind of honed skill that can hold 'Conversations In The Dark' like 'All Of Me' or one of the best songs of this big career to go with a collection of people's personal home videos from the past like, "watch movies that we've both already seen/I ain't even looking at the screen/It's true/I got my eyes on you". "On Sunday mornings we sleep-in 'till noon/Well I can sleep forever next to you." Pillow talk at its most beautiful like R.E.M. counting eyelashes. Perfect as you are with no flaws as J tells 'em, "And you say that you're not worth it/You get hung up on your flaws/Well in my eyes you are perfect/As you are/I would never try to change you, change you/I will always want the same you, same you." Like Tank, we have a new wedding song to walk down the aisle to. Koffee provides that kick with the dance floor moving, 'Don't Walk Away'. Where's 'Remember This' with Rhapsody is the perfect one for this slowed down soul reprise in a bohemian album of neo-Motown beauty like "watching old movies" or "Kobe winning another ring". One that may not practice 'Preach' from last year right now, but you can't just tag a song that means so much more like the video of Childish Gambino's 'This Is America' on the end of an album that feels different like a bonus track when it means so much more. Besides in this Spotify age for the record it still exists standing on its own two in marching unison. Besides with tracks like the Camper assisted 'I'm Ready' pitch and a beautiful bond that will 'Never Break', like real love that lasts 'Always', what more could you want? And how about the family matters of his quarantined at home video for this albums title track with his two beautiful children and their wonderful mother Chrissy Teigen? As the power couple became an even more powerful family as Legend says the bigger love of Teigen inspired this here, his "best work"...and we can't help but agree. Locked and held down indeed. The one you give your heart too. The family this makes. Love doesn't come bigger than this. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Actions', 'Wild (Feat. Gary Clark Jr.)', 'Conversations In The Dark.'
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